Blogging: The Perfect Holiday Side Hustle?

In our last writers’ group meeting, authors were looking for ways to make money for the holidays. Blogging was a popular option — several of the group have young children, so they can work from home.

Blogging’s the perfect holiday side hustle. If you want to try it, start looking for gigs now.

Blogging? Now’s the time to find gigs

Currently I work for a marketing agency in my day job, so I know that companies are hiring writers to help create marketing and social media content.

I asked marketing people from these companies how they found their writers. Most said that they’d chosen writers with whom they’d worked, or who had approached them and asked for holiday gigs.

Obvious tip: ask marketing people in large companies whether they need holiday help.

A marketing manager for an airline said she’d scouted her Instagram feed for posters who posted intriguing locations. She clicked through to their website to check their writing style: “Our bloggers must post consistently — I look for bloggers who post regularly, and are fun to read.”

Want to make money from your own blog?

If you’re already blogging, and want ways to make more money from your blog this holiday season, you may be promoting affiliate products on your blog.

Here’s a good idea: create your own affiliate deals

Could you eliminate the competition and strike your own affiliate deals? Good advice from Your Blogging Side Hustle: 3 Ideas To Make Money For The Holidays:

Contact a company with whom you’d like to work — a company which offers high-ticket items;

Negotiate a deal. Usually your commission is a percentage of the sale price;

Work out how you’ll know when one of your leads results in a sale.

Offer companies the opportunity to sponsor content on your blog

Of course, it depends on what you’re blogging about, but if you have a consistent readership, your blog can be an attractive advertising option. A post on your blog will last longer than pay per click advertising, which is becoming very expensive.

To make your blog sponsor-friendly, develop a “for advertisers” page. Link to the page from other pages on your site. Put a link on your navigation menu too.

What to include on the page:

• A form so advertisers can contact you. Take screen clips of your monthly traffic from Google Analytics, or whatever stats app you use. Advertisers will ask for traffic info;
• Describe your reader demographics: age, income, interests;
• Provide information about your mailing list if you have one;
• (Optional) Your advertising fees. Some bloggers post these, others don’t
• How long a sponsored post will remain online. If you’re offering to leave the post online for a year, that can be a good deal for advertisers. But will you be able to take sponsorships from other companies in that industry?

Happy holiday blogging

Start looking for gigs now.

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